Will Farm Outlook As Spotty As July Rain

Dryness, Heat Hit Harder South Of I-80

August 08, 1999|By Karen Craven, Tribune Staff Writer.

What a difference a month makes. As the rain totals throughout Will County slowly come in for the month of July, the spotty rainfall has threatened the one segment of the population that can't so easily turn on the sprinkler to water the garden.

It was just a month ago when many farmers throughout Will were looking at excellent yields in corn, helped by heavy rains in June. But Mother Nature began playing favorites and showered often on some parts of the county last month while ignoring others.

"We had as good of a crop as we could have had going," said Gary Fritz, who farms 1,600 acres south of Joliet on which he grows corn and soybeans.

But after Fritz took a walk in his cornfields last week, he said his earlier expectations of a yield of 140 bushels per acre dropped to about 110 bushels an acre as a result of only about an inch of rain and broiling heat last month.

Those two factors affected some parts of the country worse than others. On Friday, President Clinton said some states in the East and other regions are experiencing "the worst drought since the Dust Bowl days" of the early 1930s, and he called on the federal government to muster more assistance for hard-hit farmers.

But in the six-county Chicago area, it's a different story.

Many farmers north of Interstate Highway 80 are doing fine, but many south of I-80 are expecting smaller yields than they first anticipated in July, said Will County Farm Bureau manager Mark Schneidewind.

"It's hard to put it in perspective because the rains have been so spotty," said Schneidewind.

Rain averages for the greater metropolitan area are based on the amount of precipitation recorded at O'Hare International Airport, said National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Nelson.

In June, O'Hare recorded 3.78 inches of rain; in July, the total increased to 4.95 inches.

But south of Chicago, the amount of rainfall recorded in Joliet, Plainfield and Romeoville far exceeded the O'Hare total for June, but July rains dropped by almost 50 percent or more, said Nelson.

For example, Joliet had 6.47 inches of rain in June and less than 2 inches in July.

The heat and dryness were obvious on the Tewes farm south of Frankfort on Thursday.

An area that usually yields 70 to 80 bales of hay brought in 120 when it was cut in June. On Thursday, 22 bales were cut, and much of the rest was left behind because it was too short.

"Hay should be about 2-feet high, and it isn't even a foot high," said Edward Tewes.

The Tewes family started farming 400 acres in 1910. The current generation farms 2,000 acres, mainly hay, corn and soybeans. Their fields have had just 1.4 inches of rain since July 1.

Many cornfields on the Tewes farm are distressed, said owner Lyle Tewes. Cornstalks are partially burnt, the ground has deep cracks and the ears look stilted.

"Really, what we need is 2 to 3 inches of hard rain, not these little showers," said Tewes.

Lyle Tewes takes an ear of corn off the stalk, opens it and points to kernels that are dried out or half the usual size. "You just know it's not going to be good," he said.

At a soybean field, where the plants have begun to flower, he describes the rain as crucial to the crop, which is only shin high but ordinarily would reach his knee.

"It still looks like a good soybean crop but not an excellent soybean crop--excellent is out of the picture," he said.

Driving south of Manhattan on U.S. Highway 52, one sees the effects of the lack of rain change with each mile. One field has corn with rich green stalks, while the stalks stand limp and yellow on the next field.

Tom Nugent and his family farm 1,200 acres of corn and soybeans three miles south of Manhattan.

Nugent remains optimistic about his corn crop.

"Two weeks ago, the corn looked tremendous, and now it looks good," said Nugent.

Even considering this year's record low prices for corn, Nugent said he still would have made a profit at 160 to 170 bushels per acre. But after the inch of rain his fields received in July, he expects his yield to drop to 130 bushels an acre.

The dry heat also has brought with it spider mites. The insect slowly works its way from the outskirts of a soybean field, leaving the plants yellow and brown in its wake. So far, Nugent has seen one small area affected.

North of the Nugent farm, on the outskirts of Manhattan, Al Hiller and his sons run a dairy farm and raise corn, soybeans, hay, oats and wheat.

The last time Hiller saw rain on his farm was a little more than .08 of an inch on July 23. The lack of moisture and heat took the greatest toll on Hiller's 170 Holsteins, whose milk production last month dropped by 12 percent and feed consumption fell by 15 percent. Although he and his family may have saved money on feed, they saw their utility bill triple, a result of running barn fans 24 hours a day to keep the cows cool.

"It wasn't too bad up until two weeks ago," said Hiller.

He keeps the TV on constantly in the dairy barn office to monitor the weather forecast. With July behind them, all area farmers remain hopeful for August rains.